Opening the Magna Carta

14 February 2019

VU Polytechnic staff have been involved in a 12-month project of national significance conserving Australia’s copy of the Magna Carta, which is usually displayed in the Member’s Hall of Parliament House in Canberra.

In December last year, they were honoured at a dinner for their part in creating a machine to safely open the housing that has been keeping the precious document safe for fifty years since its last inspection.

The almost 800 year-old document is a 1297 Inspeximum issue of the Magna Carta, owned by the Australian Government. During opening of the case for conservation work, they needed to discover the structure of each of the layers protecting the document, including the outer case, secondary sheath, and inner envelope.

Watch Episode 3 of the parliamentary videos on the project to hear about the applauded involvement of VU Polytechnic staff, which includes David Scott and his team, Graeme Watson and Kim Girdler at the Sunshine Campus.